Thursday, April 23, 2009

Super Producer Brad Grey Buys New Bel Air Digs

Oooo-wee children, Your Mama bets Mister Nicolas Cage's real estate panties are all in a snit this week. While poor Mister Cage has whacked the asking price of his languishing on the market CopadeOro Road residence from $35,000,000 to $19,750,000 and still not attracted a serious buyer, the property immediately next door sold off-market for what Your Mama hears was $22,000,000.

We first heard of the 8-figure transaction a week or so ago from the ever-accurate Nelly Knowsitall and then again later from Our Fairy Godmother in Bel Air who both whispered in our big ol' ear that the renovated residence was purchased by diminutive super-producer Brad Grey.

Mister Grey is currently chairman and chief executive of Paramount Pictures and his gilded hands have successfully produced scads of tee-vee programs including The Sopranos, Real Time with Bill Maher, Just Shoot Me, and The Larry Sanders Show. His impressive film credits include Running With Scissors (which was really a much better book than movie), The Departed, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Wedding Singer and The Cable Guy.

Anyhoo, it appears that the dignified white Colonial style crib–or maybe it's Georgian–with black shutters was never on the open market and as best as we can figure was sold by an heir of the recently deceased Franklin Otis Booth Jr. who made some of his billion or two bucks by doing bizness with Oracle of Omaha investor Warren Buffet. Records indicate that a trust controlled by Mister Booth purchased the property in May of 2003 from none other than, surprise!, next door neighbor Nicolas Cage.

Records show the "L" shaped house measures 10,616 square feet and includes four bedrooms and 7 terlits. Since we were unable to locate any listing information that's all the 411 we have on the house and we're just going to have to assume the property records on file with the County of Los Angeles are correct.

In addition to Mister Cage and one of his many real estate white elephants, nearby neighbors include Paris' parents Rick and Kathy Hilton and the sprawling, newly built multi-winged mansion of Benny Alagem who founded Packard Bell Electronics and now owns, among many other things, The Beverly Hills Hilton hotel

Given that Mister and Missus Grey are heading to the court of dee-vorce, it's unclear who will live in the CopadeOro Road residence and who will live in the family's 13,143 square foot spread on Monaco Drive in the ritzy Riviera area of Pacific Palisades. Records reveal that Mister Grey also own an oceanfront getaway on a particularly posh stretch of sand on Broad Beach Road in Malee-boo where property records reveal nearby neighbors include aged lounge lizards Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé and tool tycoon Eric Smidt who in 2005 famously paid a reported $46,000,000 for the The Knoll, the late Marvin Davis' legendary and vast Beverly Hills estate.

While so many of the chilrun are screaming,hooting and a hollering that the market is so this that or the other thing and how no body has any money... finally some BIG dollar transactions start to come together reflecting the actual state of the market. EVERYTHING sells for the right price..... and there are still LOTS LOTS LOTS of people out there with deep pockets whether ya'll want to believe it or not.

9:57, I went to the Virtual Globetrotting site addy you provided, and I see this home there clear as day, directly to the left of Cage's English manor home. It's been significantly overhauled, a new rear wing has been added, and both the roof and driveway are redesigns, but that's definately it.

Two large, rather pricy homes have sold to billionaires recently, one of them to a Ukranian woman, the other wasn't listed. That's not what I call a reflection of the true state of the market, but I'm more than glad someone is buying something, even if it's limited to those for whom money is no object.

I very much like what I can see of this house, and find it's more traditionally oriented architectural design alot more appealing than yesterday's Beverly Park pile. Too bad we're unable to view the interiors. I bet they're lovely.

There is no house there, if you can't figure it out that's your issue, Go to assessment records or LaLife.com and put in the address which is 385 Copa De Oro, its listed as vacant residential land. Meaning the house there was JUST built.

I clicked on your link and that is all, didn't touch Zoom, and still see it. Regardless, if they did tear it down completely and rebuild, they based the new home entirely on it's predecessor - same front portico and same rear elevation, excepting the new rear left wing.

It was NEVER torn down, You are looking at some various phase of construction and claiming its a renovated property.

The lot (VACANT LOT) sold for $7,250,000 in May of 2003. That was a lot, no tear down... empty LOT! the house on the property is listed as being built in 2006 which is when the house was underconstruction.

Whatever your computer is doing, is refershing and pulling some up-dated Ariel, but the original Ariel attached to Nic Cage's house (that I have now looked at one 2 separate computers) shows absolutely no house and tax records reflect that the house was JUST built.

Both sides are somewhat correct. I'm looking at a Microsoft Virtual Earth satellite photo at zoomed at 25 yards, and the original house is clearly visible and looks very similiar to the new house that's there now. The original garage faces the street in the old photo, so this couldn't be a stage of construction I'm looking at.

Children Please! Yes this is a newly built house designed by Hablinski-Manion that was constructed on a vacant lot that sold in May 2003 for $7.25 million. However, previously there was a home on the property. It too was a large Georgian-style home, although not as large as the new one, and during the 1930s was the California residence of actress Merle Oberon and her husband, producer Alexander Korda (they also had a beach cottage, an apartment in New York City and rented a manor house in Denham, England. The April 1990 Architectural Digest - Academy Awards Collectors' Edition includes a number of photographs. It was a charming home, but probably wasn't considered big enough for the owners who built the current one. -- Armchair Architectural Historian

I am a bit confused on how osme of these homes are selling. I have spoken with several high end builders in LA recently who are so desperate for business that you can now build these high quality homes at a fraction of what you usta be able to. $400 / sq ft now builds you an awsome house. That said, but the last lot in Beverly Park that is $10mm, build a 30k sq ft house for $12m and have only spent $22m for a bigger house that is exaclty what you wanted.

Seems an odd choice for a soon to be newly deevorced man in Hollywood. More feminine I dare say. Would have thought cool, modern, masculine spread for all the whores or new girlfriend (same thing for a man of his position) one could now bring over without the wifey getting all bothered.

House to left of Cage's is circa late '20s-early 30sWallace Neff designed estate. Often called "Belagio Road" in current press. Was for Studio Exec. or Producer. Lots more info in 'the big book' on Neff.